The Poughkeepsie Tapes
- Lexi Lovecraft
- Jul 9, 2018
- 2 min read
THE POUGHKEEPSIE TAPES (2007)
Director: John Erick Dowdle
Cast: Bobbie Sue Luther, Samantha Robson, Ivar Brogger
In an abandoned house in Poughkeepsie, New York murder investigators uncover hundreds of tapes showing decades of a serial killer's work.
This found footage/mockumentary about the hundreds of snuff films made by a serial killer has always been controversial, from it's release to it's reception. Directed by John Erick Dowdle and written with his brother Drew, The Poughkeepsie Tapes is a disturbing look at over a decade of brutal murders.
The exposition is told through documentary-style interviews with FBI profilers, victims friends and family, while in between getting glimpses of the tapes dating as far back as '88. Many of the 'tapes' are severely distorted, making most of the screen black or monotone and unintelligible, which adds to the already substantial unease. Often times you see little more than silhouettes accompanied by screams and sobs. A specific scene comes to mind in which a woman is bound and positioned in front of a mounted cam. Slowly, the killer dressed in all black except for a white doll-like mask, crawls on the ground towards this woman while she lets out blood curdling screams. The lack of not only gore but also direct storytelling make you fill in the blanks in your mind and really fuels the anxiety you get from this film.
It was originally set to be released in theaters by MGM on February 8, 2008, but after numerous complaints it was taken off their schedule completely. In 2009 a screener copy was leaked on the web and though garnered a lot of attention, it was not legal available until 2014 as On Demand on DirecTV. It again received significant publicity and eventually being pulled a month later when MGM was rumored to be planning a wide release. However, that was just a rumor and never came to fruition. It wasn't until October 10, 2017 that The Poughkeepsie Tapes got an official (and legal) release on DVD and BluRay via Scream Factory.
After waiting nearly 10 years for an actual release this movie had it's reputation precede it. To many people this was made up to be this bloody, disgusting, 90-minute torture porn which is not the case. Had this been released to the public in 2008 it would've come out in the early years of the found footage resurgence, making it's place among the popular films. But having to wait until 2017, after 100s of found footage have come out can make it feel dated to some.
I thought The Poughkeepsie Tape's was an original, unnerving and sadistic film. Despite me writing a review, it's best to go into this blind, not knowing any of the hype behind it, so to draw your own conclusions.
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